One in four women in prison held on remand

As of 31 December 2024, over a quarter (26%) of all women in prison were being held there on remand. This is despite the fact that almost nine in 10 women on remand are assessed as posing only low to medium risk of serious harm to the public, and the majority of women committing low level, non-violent offences.

Many women who are remanded to custody do not go on to receive a custodial sentence. In the magistrates’ court in 2023, only 32% of the 3,622 women remanded by magistrates were subsequently sentenced to a term of imprisonment. In the Crown Courts, of the 2,639 women who were remanded, just over half (54%) went on to receive a custodial sentence.

Some women in contact with the criminal justice system who are considered to be in ‘mental health crisis’ are being remanded to prison for their ‘own protection’ or ‘as a place of safety’. The government does not collate national figures on the numbers of people subject to these measures. However, in 2023, the Independent Monitoring Boards (IMB) reported that the number of women held under these provisions had increased in some prisons.

The government has introduced a new mental health bill, currently making its way through parliament, which includes provisions to remove prisons as a place of safety, stop remanding people for their own protection, and set a time limit for transfers from prison to secure mental health hospitals. These are welcome provisions which if implemented should have a positive impact on the treatment of women with severe mental health needs.

The briefing sets out key facts and figures and highlights progress to date in implementing an approach which recognises women’s distinct needs. It reveals that the majority of women in prison are likely to be on short sentences, have multiple, complex and often unmet needs and be primary carers of children. Other key facts in the briefing include:

• Women entered prison on over 4,700 occasions in the first nine months of 2024.
• There were 3,546 women in prison on 17 March 2025.
• In the year to September 2024 there were 2,603 recalls of women to custody, of which only 17% involved women facing further charges.
• Less than half of women (47%) left prison in the year to March 2024 to settled accommodation.

The briefing highlights effective approaches to tackling women’s offending. These include the development of whole system approaches pioneered in areas such as Greater Manchester and London, investment in early intervention and diversion and the promotion of community alternatives such as Community Sentence Treatment Requirements (CSTRs) and women’s centres.

The current government has established a women’s justice board, of which PRT’s chief executive Pia Sinha is a member, with a specific remit to reduce the number of women in prison.